By Jerome A. Cohen
I was tempted not to post this report of the official disappearance of another human rights lawyer, since events like this occur so often perhaps they no longer constitute “news” and attract public interest. Yet some observers believe that a special, below-the-radar effort may have begun to prevent the PRC’s continuing harsh repression from being exposed to the media as the Winter Olympics approaches. The long-anticipated last month “trial” of the well-respected and long-confined lawyer-activists Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi may have been postponed until after the Olympics or after the 20th Party Congress at year’s end (or even the 2049 100thanniversary of the PRC’s establishment!). There has been much PRC silence about many other long-pending cases. This week’s detention of lawyer Xie Yang may be designed “merely” to remove him from society until after the Games or, unlike his previous detentions, he may this time be permanently lost to life like the famous human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng who, after repeated formal imprisonments failed to halt his protests, has simply not been heard about for several years. Like many, Gao is a victim not of Xi Jinping’s vaunted “rule by law” but of lawlessness. What should the International Olympics Committee be doing in response to this situation? The Amnesty report cited here is especially worth reading.